To start, I have vision in only my right eye, having had the

Customer Question

To start, I have vision in only my right eye, having had the other removed at age two, due to a retinal blastoma. I’m now 63. I had an eye emergency Sunday night, flashing in my eye (only eye, you know). Called my retina doc and met him Sunday evening. Turned out to be the vitreous gel pulling away from retina wall, normal in nearsighted people as they get older, but most don’t notice it, so I’m told. Monday morning while outside, I noticed a “shower” of particles in my eye, like driving through the rain…. Back to the retina doc, less than 12 hours from before. Same thing, but this time, he noticed a slight bulge in the retina where I had laser surgery to tack down an area of lattice, some 15 yrs earlier. Also lots of floaters. Today, during my guitar lesson, suddenly, I had huge brownish blobs in my field of vision….. So, off to the doc again. Upon examination, that bulge had torn open, a tear had formed within the previously lasered area of lattice, ..so I had some laser surgery to tack it all down. He feels that it’s that bulging, then tear that was causing my problems, all brought on by the PVD pulling on that area. At least now I have an explanation for all of the issues of the past two days. The normal shrinking of the vitreous layer usually happens fast and isn’t noticeable. Mine got hung up on that old surgery, pulling at it, causing the flashes/floaters. In any case, now I have loads of floaters. Showers of dots, cob-webbybthings too. I asked my retina specialist about it and he said there are surgeries, but I should wait 2-3 months as he feels that most PVD floaters will disappear in that time. Does this sound feasible to you? These floaters and tons of small dots are driving me nuts.... Like walking through a swarm of gnats.

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Yes This sounds feasible to me.

What can you do about the floaters? Well, floaters don't go away, and they don't really get worse. Over time they tend to "sink" out of your central vision and you brain "filters" them out so you don't notice them so much anymore. They almost never cause significant visual problems except, of course, if they cause a secondary retinal detachment as discussed above. The only way to decrease or remove the floaters is with a major surgery called a vitrectomy. As a retinal specialist for almost 2 decades I only do this procedure to remove floaters in extreme cases.

In January 2013 a new drug, called Ocriplasmin, was approved by the FDA to dissolve vitreous strands in a particular eye condition called vitreomacular traction. Perhaps someday this drug could be used to also remove floaters…. Only time will tell.

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